Meltdown
by MahNati
Summary: She couldn't ignore that pain anymore, she needed to do something about that. That night, Jill would give an end to all her worries, but what happens when Knuckle Joe discovers her plans and tries to stop her? For Pikana's Contest, JillXKnuckle Joe
1. Chapter 1

**Not to be confused with Rin Kagamine's song "Meltdown", only a small part of this CHAPTER was inspired on the music. Sooo… yeah, this is my entry for "Pikana's Weird Pairing Contest". **

**I've noticed that there aren't many Assist Trophies stories, so I decided to make one. Surprisingly, this pairing does look kind of cute together.**

**Disclaimer: Pfff… If I owned something, I wouldn't be writing a fan fiction.**

* * *

Grey clouds covered the sky, giving a certain melancholic tone to that ending of the afternoon. The wind was strong and chilly, like it was giving the warning of an upcoming storm. The young Assist Trophies shivered, just like the flowered shrubs and trees that adorned the huge garden they were standing.

"Alright, the teams are already formed! Everyone get in your positions!" Ana exclaimed.

Everyone cheered and ran to their sides of the garden, while Lakitu floated above their heads to make sure no one would cheat. On the right side of the garden, Jill, Kat and Stafy were standing in a triangle formation. On the left side, Jeff, Ana and Knuckle Joe were standing in an unorganized way. A line made of a thick white string separated the battlefield and a flag was placed on each side.

"Alright, the team who manages to steal the fag from the other side without being caught and take to their side wins," Lakitu said from above, "So you better be fast and agile! Okay? Ready… set… go!"

For once nobody moved, as they were mentally deciding how to reach the other side. Stafy gave a quick glance to Kat. The kindergarten ninja understood, gave a slight nod a rushed in an amazing speed to the enemy's side. By the same time, Ana ran to Jill and Stafy's side, dodging them and reaching the flag. Despite the two team's efforts to prevent them from stealing their flags, the twins ran back to their respective sides.

"It's a tie…" Lakitu sighed.

"It's no fun like that!" Knuckle Joe said, "Kat and Ana are way too fast."

"Nhe, you're just jealous!" they said in unison.

"Actually, it's fun only when you have more people participating," Stafy said, "It's no fun with only seven of us."

"Yeah, you do have a point," Jeff sighed, "How about going inside and see if there's something good passing on TV?"

Everyone nodded and headed towards to the Assist Mansion, the place where all the Assist Trophies lived. Kat and Ana skipped ahead of them in their usual speed, being followed by Jeff, Lakitu and Stafy. Knuckle Joe was walking not far from behind them, minding his own business, when he noticed someone was missing.

"Hey, where did Jill go?" he asked to himself and looked behind him, only to see Jill radiating a grey aura as she walked.

The Drill Dozer user was walking rather slowly compared to her usual pace. Her bloody red eyes were dull and lifeless, showing no emotion whatsoever. Her arms, rigid, were folded behind her back and her characteristic smirk couldn't be seen on her face. Knuckle Joe looked at her worried. Where was that bright spark in her eyes? And where did her sarcastic smile go? Jill wasn't the type of girl who gets in a bad mood that easily, so that worried him a little.

"Hey Jill, is everything okay?" he asked, giving a concerned look to her as he walked toward the pink haired.

"Hum?" she mumbled not looking into his eyes.

"You look kind of down today. What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" she answered giving a fake smile, "I was just thinking about my life, that's all."

The blond haired just raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. They reached the backdoor that connected the garden with the mansion's kitchen and entered. They greeted the chefs Master Hand employed to cook for them and went to the TV room. There, they saw their friends fighting over the remote. They were laughing and snatching it from each other, like that was even more fun than watching TV instead.

Knuckle Joe chuckled and joined them, but Jill just stood at the door. That cheeriness had made her sigh. She wasn't in a mood to laugh or play… She was actually in the mood for nothing.

"Guys, I think I'll go to my bedroom, kay?" she said quietly, "Tell everyone that I won't have dinner today."

"If you say so…" Jeff said unsure.

"Jill, are you sure you're fine?" Knuckle Joe asked more worried now, "You never, ever, skip dinner!"

"There's always a first time for everything. Good night."

"Really what's your problem? You've been gloomy all day! No, actually, this whole week. Today you're gloomy at the extreme."

"Look, I'm just tired, okay?" she snapped angrily and turned her back to them, "I've been having a shitload of brawls this week, which sucks ass! I just want to rest. Good night!"

She stomped out of the room, while the rest of the Assist Trophies stared at her blinkingly.

"Wow, what bug bit her today?" Kat asked to nobody in particular.

* * *

"ARGH!" Jill shouted as she slammed the door of her room closed.

She didn't mind turning on the lights and belly flopped on her untidy white bed, making it become more untidy. She felt a little guilty for shouting and lying to Knuckle Joe, but she knew that, if she didn't do that, he would continue insisting and asking if there was something wrong, until Jill finally broke down into tears and confessed.

The pink haired hugged her knees and got into fetal position. The pain she had been feeling those days was growing bigger and bigger in her. That feeling of uselessness and abandonment just wouldn't stop banging her heart. Some tears formed at the corner of her eyes, but she fought them back. She couldn't cry because of that, she just couldn't…

"Ignore the pain!" she thought, "Ignore, ignore, like you have been doing this whole time!"

Breathing deeply Jill tried to calm herself down. It was almost working, but as soon as she saw the photo she took with her father in her bed desk, her sorrow came back. With a trembling hand, she got the portrait and looked at her beloved parent. The scene looked like a perfect father-daughter moment, if the bulky Drill Dozer on the background were ignored. Her heart was now beating so fast that she feared it would jump out of her mouth and Jill could no longer hold the tears.

"I'm sorry dad!" she said between hiccups, "I'm sorry I failed you and the crew."

She tried breathing deeply one more time, but with all those tears and hiccups it looked like she was choking. Jill carefully put the portrait back on the bed desk and turned her face to the roof, her head spinning. Why she was feeling that angst? She managed to ignore it so well all that time…

Maybe it was because of the enormous quantity brawls Master Hand was forcing her to appear. She didn't mind being an Assist Trophy, but she couldn't help but give a bitter smile when she heard the crowd cheering for the smashers on a stage and treating her like she was just an ordinary item. As much as she wanted to ignore those facts, it looked like those people were trying to get that across her. They didn't care about here.

"They might think of me more as an item than a video game character." she muttered to herself.

More tears fell from her eyes as she continued to gaze into the roof. She was unimportant, she knew that. She could sink into the darkness and nobody would ever notice that. She wanted that suffering to end, but how?

"Maybe…"

An idea crossed her mind. Yes, that would do just fine. How couldn't she think of that before? That was the answer she'd been looking for.

* * *

The moonlight invaded Knuckle Joe's room through the open window, illuminating the surroundings in a cold light. The Assist Trophy was lying on his bed unquiet, with his eyes alert. He couldn't sleep after the horrible nightmare he just had a few seconds ago. Giving a yawn, he checked the digital clock on his bed desk.

"Aw, 2 AM?" he sighed, "Why this night need to take so long to end?"

Knuckle Joe sat up and stretched his back. "Maybe a passion fruit juice will make me able to go back to sleep," he said and got up from his bed.

He left the room and after adjusting his eyes to the dim light of the corridor, went to the kitchen to drink some juice. As he was returning a shadow in the corner made he jump. Knuckle Joe glued his back to the wall and took a look at the person.

It was just Jill.

"Uh, why is she sniffing?" he thought.

Due to the lack of light (he didn't mind turning them on) he couldn't see exactly what was happening, but he guessed that she was crying.

"Really, what's your problem?" Knuckle Joe thought with a frown.

He waited until she crossed the path that separated the kitchen and the corridor. He then started to silently follow her, determined to see what was going on with the Drill Dozer user. He started to feel a little more relieved as she walked upstairs and crossed the corridors that led to the Assist Trophies rooms. However, she walked past her room's door without even looking at it and continued walking. His worries returned.

"Jill…"

Jill went to the broom's closet at the end of the corridor. Knuckle Joe remained in his spot, just hearing the noise of something being pushed aside that she was making. He then heard the sound of footsteps on cold metal. Knuckle Joe knew what that meant: she was going to the attic. The reason he couldn't understand though.

Walking as silently as he could, he went to the broom's closet. There he saw the attic opened and the metal stairs set up. Knuckle Joe raised an eyebrow and went to the rather messy attic. It was large and filled with old stuff that Master Hand couldn't get rid off. The Popstar resident crawled between the cardboard boxes and went to the open window that led to the roof.

The night was clear and starry; the storm was just a false alarm. Jill was seated on the edge of the mansion's roof, staring at the crescent moon. Knuckle Joe's head popped out from the window.

"Guys… dad… I'm really sorry," she said as she got up, "For everything. I-I'll give an end to this, I promise."

Knuckle Joe's eyes went wide as he finally understood what she was about to do. Jill was about to commit suicide! She was about end her life right in front of his eyes without giving any explanation. The dirty blond haired quickly jumped into the roof.

"Jill, don't do it!" he shouted, "Please stop it!"

She turned to him in surprise. What was he doing there! She thought everyone was sleeping! How couldn't she have noticed he was there? She quickly wept the tears away to show him she wasn't crying. He already caught her in a delicate moment, he didn't need to see that she was crying as well.

"Shit Knuckle Joe! What are you doing here?" she snapped, "You were supposed to be sleeping!"

"I'm not the only one who was supposed to be sleeping!" he retorted angrily, "Alright, I knew that there was something wrong with you since the beginning, and what you were about to do just confirmed my suspicions."

"I…"

He then softened. "Jill, please tell me what's going on with you. Keeping it to yourself isn't good. It only makes you suffer more."

Jill lowered her bloody red eyes. He wouldn't understand; nobody would.

"Knuckle Joe, just leave me alone, please…"

"I'm saying this because I'm your friend and I care about you," he cautiously walked towards her, "Nor me, nor anyone wants to see you suffering… or dead… we want to help you."

"That's it!" she said in an icy voice, "You care about me? Since when? Nobody want to see me suffering? Bullshit, nobody even knew that I was suffering."

"Of course! You kept hiding it…"

"You want to know what my problem is? I tell ya! It's me! I'm the frigging problem!" Jill shouted.

"I… don't understand…"

"Knuckle Joe, tell me something. Why I'm not good enough?" she asked.

"Not good enough for what?" he asked confused.

"For… everything."

Knuckle Joe stepped forward with the intention of pulling her away from the edge. Noticing that, Jill stepped back, her ankle just a few millimeters from the border and gave a warning look to him. He understood the message and stayed where he was.

"I've been thinking about my life and the game I came, ya know?"

"Go on…"

"When my game was released, I had some hope of it getting popular, even though it was released in the end of the Game Boy Advanced era," Jill sighed, "Well, it never became. But I was fine with that. I knew of games who didn't have that much success either, so I kept saying to myself that that was normal."

She closed her hands in a fist nervously. "But then Master Hand came with that stupid invitation for me to become an Assist Trophy. I couldn't be happier than I was at the moment I received it. After all, I heard that Earthbound and Fire Emblem became famous thanks to the appearance of Ness, Marth and Roy in Super Smash Brothers. That was my chance of causing a good impression of the game, so I gladly accepted the invitation."

She made a brief pause. Knuckle Joe really didn't know what to say.

"But things didn't turn out as I expected. When I first entered on the stage, I took a few glances at the crowd. Their first reaction was of surprise, then…"

"They looked down at you only as an item." Knuckle Joe said. He too received those looks. Just remembering those stares made his heart sink.

"I-I thought it would help making marketing of my game," Jill stammered, "I just wanted them to know that I and the people from my universe existed. But they just treated me as something insignificant. I was just an item that didn't cause any interest from where it came from. I could be removed from the Tournament that no one would care."

She didn't mind fighting the tears rolling down her cheeks anymore. "A-And then I realized that, even making all that propaganda, people just wasn't into my game because of me. I m-mean, c'mon, I'm not attractive like Lyn, Samus or Zelda. So… So I…"

"You thought that just because of that, you and the people of your world would never be recognized and soon you, along with them, would be forgotten and sink in the darkness," Knuckle Joe said, finally realizing what she was in her mind, "You started to blame yourself for this, so you got desperate and wanted all this guilt to go away."

"It wouldn't really make a difference if I died," she turned her back to him and looked at the ground, "So why not?"

"For us it would have." Knuckle Joe said seriously.

Jill turned around to face him, her big red eyes filled with tears.

"Jill," he started, "you may think that you are unimportant, but that's not true. Okay, so you are not a "Mario" or "Sonic" of life, but this doesn't mean that you are not loved."

"Yeah right…"

"Why do you think I'm trying to stop you from doing this? Jill, like I said before, I'm your friend and I CARE about you. Not only me, but I'm sure Stafy, Kat, Ana, Jeff and Lakitu also care. And what about your family? Your gang?"

She just lowered her eyes. Knuckle Joe continued:

"Even the rest of the Assist Trophies and employees here in the mansion! Even if you are not close to them, imagine how they would feel if they knew a girl killed herself right "in front" of them!"

"They can deal with this…"

"It can happen to anyone, Jill," Knuckle Joe continued, "Even Mario could be on your situation; he just had more luck. And there are so many characters, older characters, on even worse conditions than you. You are actually lucky for even being here."

"Still…"

"And don't blame yourself! The last one you could blame is yourself! You can blame your creators for not making you more appealing, the developers for releasing your game for the Game Boy in the era of the Game Boy, the gamers for being chauvinists… Hell, you can even blame me for not noticing that there was something wrong with you before!" he continued nervously, afraid that he might not convince her.

Jill's heart was beating fast. No, fast wasn't even close to the speed it was beating. Why was she feeling regret? Just one quick jump would end all of that! Still, her legs were trembling and refusing to do it. Why was her head spinning?

"For Master Hand's sake don't act like a frigging moron!" Knuckle Joe exclaimed, "Jill, you will NOT be forgotten, because you still have people who care about you! You are still here because you have people who like you and think of you, unlike some characters whose names aren't even remembered. You ARE loved!"

For a moment she stayed there, staring at him with blunt expression on her face. Her lips suddenly contorted in agony, showing her white teeth, and she shut her eyes closed. He was right after all…

"AAHHHHHH!" she shouted as loud as she could.

Knuckle Joe hurried to get her as she collapsed on the roof's floor. Jill hugged him as hard as she could, sobbing and apologizing. He returned her hug, relieved for being able to prevent her from killing herself.

"Sorry Knuckle Joe…" she sobbed even harder, "I know I was being an idiot! But I got so blind and desperate and…"

"It's okay…" he said hugging her tighter, "I'm glad you changed your mind. Just please, don't even try to do this again, promise?"

She nodded and rested her head on his small shoulder. She was feeling so tired… The two remained seated for a while.

"Let's head back to our dorms, what do you think?" Knuckle Joe gently asked.

"No…" Jill shook her head, "I don't feel like going back. Not in this state, at least."

"Wanna stay here for a while then?" he sighed.

She nodded again, this time closing her eyes. The dirty blond haired didn't dare to change his position, as he was afraid of screwing things up. His friend was still mentally unstable, so it was better to not contradict. He looked at the small teenager. The moonlight was shinning intensively on her, giving her a pink glow. She looked beautiful… sort of.

"By the way," he whispered, "How long have you been feeling like this?"

"Can't remember…" she replied with a tired voice.

It didn't take long for Jill to fall asleep. Giving a yawn, Knuckle Joe gave a slight smile at her. A few minutes later, he was fast asleep too.

* * *

**So, tell me what you think! I hope I might be able to post the next and last chapter before it's too late… but yeah, shit happens and I'm more about to be grounded right after posting this, so here you go.**

**Critics appreciated… blab bla bla… flames too, as long as you flame properly. And properly I mean, give a harsh and honest criticism!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, here's the second and last chapter. Enjoy…**

**Disclaimer: *points to the disclaimer in the first chapter***

* * *

The sun began to appear behind the horizon, announcing that it was already morning. The first rays of light touched Knuckle Joe's face, thus awaking the light sleeper Assist Trophy. At first, all he did was to curse the sun for waking him up; however, as soon as he spotted a small pink-haired girl sleeping by his side, his eyes went wide as he started to recall what happened last night.

His heart sunk as he remembered Jill's tears as she was saying how useless and abandoned she felt. How desperate he was while convincing her that she didn't need to commit suicide. How her screams and sobs were full of frustration, yet regret for trying, as she changed her mind. And how peaceful and relieved he felt as he saw her falling asleep near him.

"I might have fallen asleep right after her," he thought, "Man, we really need to go back now. If someone finds out where are we, it will be hard to explain without telling the truth."

Knuckle Joe gently nudged Jill's shoulder. "Hey Jill, wake up. It's already morning." he said like he was talking to a child.

The Drill Dozer user groaned and sleepily opened her red eyes. With her friends help, she sat up and numbly looked around her. She then yawned and laid back again, staring at the pinkish red and orange clouds of the breaking dawn.

"Morning." Knuckle Joe said.

"Morning…" she replied, "I never thought sleeping on the roof could be so comfortable…"

"You think so?" he scratched his back, "If I weren't so exhausted, I wouldn't be able to sleep here any longer."

"Hum…"

"Feeling better?"

"A little. But ya know… a lot of shit happened. I can't simply feel one hundred percent better after that…"

He got up and offered a hand to her. "Anyway, we better go back to inside now. I don't know if you want everyone to know what happened yesterday…"

"I don't. You won't tell anyone, will you?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"No Jill, I won't. So if you don't want to raise suspicions, then we better get inside before anyone wakes up and notice that we aren't in our rooms. And you know our policy…"

"If someone wakes up, then this person needs to wake everyone." she got his hand as got up.

Somehow her legs were shaking. Jill started to feel some sort of dizziness and almost felt to her feet. Knuckle Joe acted quickly and got her. He placed one arm around her waist while the other put her arm around his shoulder.

"What's gotten in you?"

"I don't know… low pressure?" Jill said.

"Maybe you're still tired because of all that emotional stress. I'll try to excuse you from participating on brawls today, okay?" Knuckle Joe said as they were approaching the window that led to the attic.

"Thanks…" she smiled.

They walked to Jill's dorm room in silence. Lucky for them, it was too early for anyone to be awake, and the employees were all busy with the ground floor, so they didn't have problems of meeting someone there. Jill, because of her sleepy state, clumsily took the key from the pocket of her pajamas and unlocked the door, dropping herself on her bed as soon as she got close to it. She breathed deeply once and fell asleep.

He felt a little apprehensive for letting her there alone. What if she was just pretending that she changed her mind and she decided to jump out of the window? Or do anything else that could end her life right there? Knuckle Joe slapped himself.

"No, she wouldn't," he thought, "If she was sure about that, she would have jumped right in front of me."

But just for precaution, he closed the opened window in her room and took out any pointy object he could find. He then proceeded to get the very few medicines stocked on a shelf in her inside bathroom, just letting one or two aspirins in case she really needed. With his arms almost full, he went to the door.

"Sleep well…" Knuckle Joe said and closed the door.

* * *

Breakfast was silent as usual; only the sound of forks and knifes touching the porcelain plates could be heard. Most of the Assist Trophies weren't exactly morning people and were still sleepy, so they weren't in the mood of talking. Those who were feeling disposition didn't want to receive a death glare, so they ate in silence as well.

Knuckle Joe was still thinking on how he could help Jill. She might have given up on killing herself, but she was still depressed. He needed to make her get over that. But it would be hard doing that alone…

"Are you alright Knuckle Joe?" Isaac, who was seated on his right side, asked.

He turned to the blond PSY fighter. Isaac was well-known for his wisdom and he often helped someone in problems. Maybe…

"No, I promised that I wouldn't tell…" he censored himself.

"Nothing, just thinking about my life." Knuckle Joe lied.

"If you prefer to lie," he said, "I can tell by your pensive face that there's something bothering you."

Isaac gave a quick scan on the breakfast table and raised an eyebrow. "And judging by the empty space between Stafy and Ana tells me that Jill is somehow involved in this."

Fucking Isaac…

"Dammit Isaac!" Knuckle Joe said in a low voice, "Do you need to be right on everything you say?"

Isaac smirked and after taking a long sip of his orange juice, he said: "Spill the beans."

"I'll tell you later," he whispered, "I wasn't even supposed to be telling you. I don't want the risk of others knowing this."

After breakfast was over, on the way to Jill's room, Knuckle Joe told Isaac everything that happened last night. He told about the attempt, her emotional stress and how worried he was of her having another meltdown, this time, with nothing to stop her from committing something stupid. Isaac listened to everything with a surprised expression on his face. He didn't notice Jill's depression, nor anyone in the mansion. But again, it wasn't like they paid much attention to her anyway.

"Geez, Jill's really bad, isn't she?" Isaac asked once Knuckle Joe finished.

They reached the girl's room.

"So, what do you think I should do?" he asked.

"By what you told me, the best advice I can give is to keep a close eye on her," Isaac said, "But I don't think she might have another meltdown. All you have to do is to support her and stay by her side. I know she'll feel a lot better."

Isaac started to walk away. "Go see if she's okay. I'll tell Master Hand she is sick and she can't appear in any brawl today." he gave a thumb up a left.

Knuckle Joe sighed and entered. What he wouldn't be able to do for his friends?

* * *

As the weeks passed by, there wasn't practically a place where Jill went that Knuckle Joe wouldn't go together. With the exception of bathroom, bedroom and fight stages, there wasn't a moment those two wouldn't be seen alone. The Assist Trophies noticed that and gave them the nickname "Peaches and Cream". Every time they saw them walking side by side someone would shout: "Hey, if it isn't Peaches and Cream! Going to where now?" And they would laugh heartedly, while the pair would just look at each other and shrug. Isaac would eventually ask if the Drill Dozer user was okay and Knuckle Joe would always affirm.

If Knuckle Joe not leaving her alone irritated Jill in the beginning, then the pink-haired quickly changed her mind. After spending some time with him, Jill discovered he was a really nice person. She could feel that he was trying his best to make her feel better, and this comforted her a lot. Little by little, she was returning to her happy and sarcastic state, and it was mostly thanks to him. As for Knuckle Joe, keeping a close eye on her wouldn't be as exhausting as he thought in the beginning. Sure Jill showed indisposition of his company at first, but she soon became friendlier. Every time they talked she laughed and smiled. Not her usual smirk, but a sincere and pretty smile. He started to like her company a lot.

For Jill, it was like she was meeting him for the first time. It was like she was meeting the real Knuckle Joe, not the one that hung up with her because they had friends in common. After some time, hanging around with him became almost like a drug to her. Jill couldn't stand being alone; she needed to be with Knuckle Joe. Even when she was talking to Stafy or the WarioWare twins, she felt apprehensive for her blond friend not being there. Once in a while, she would do something to call for his attention, like poking him on the face and laugh right after that, or try to pull a conversation when he was watching TV or training. She craved for his company; she needed him by her side!

"I think I like him…" Jill thought one night before going to sleep.

Gazing into the ceiling, with her eyes closed and only listening to the sound of her breath, Jill started to think about that. He cared about her, and he was funny and good-looking. In an exotic and very different manner, but good-looking anyway. Of course she loved him, or else, why would she be craving for his attention every time?

A silly smile appeared on Jill's face as she remembered him. How cute he looked when he was worried or laughing. How amazing he was on stage when she had the chance to see him on one of his "brawls" and how of a good friend he was. "Yeah, it's love…"

"_My, my, someone here is misunderstanding the conception of love…"_

The girl rolled her eyes and changed the position she was in her bed. Great, it was that voice in her head again. Once in a while it would torment her, contradicting anything she thought or did. Stupid negative side of consciousness…

"_Don't pretend you don't care what I'm saying. We two know that it's not real love."_

"Shut up," she thought, "Of course it is, otherwise, why…"

"_You don't grasp for his attention because you love him, and yes because you depend on him. When you are with Knuckle Joe you forget about your shallow problems, and that's the only reason you hang around with him." _the voice inside her head chuckled.

Jill didn't answer. With her small hands, she covered her ears in a vain attempt to brush that voice off. The voice laughed.

"_Jill, you are only doing this because you know I'm right. You don't love Knuckle Joe! You are just using him to make you feel better. The only thing you love is the fact that he will do anything to you so you can feel better with yourself and know that someone, besides you family, actually gives a shit to you."_

She turned to gaze to the ceiling again. Was that voice right? Was she just spending time with him only to make her feel better?

"_And if you think about it, what you're doing it's not even friendship. A friend wouldn't do what you are doing, using him as a tool to forget about your problems. What if he's getting tired of babysitting you? Have you even thought of him for a second? No? You selfish girl." _

No, she hasn't. Thinking about it, she never really asked if Knuckle Joe was alright with her actions. Only what she did was to ask for his attention and think of her. What if he was getting tired of her?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she hissed, "Way to go! You might be loosing him!"

She knew she needed to get things clear before it was too late.

* * *

"What's the matter Jill?" Knuckle Joe asked her on the next night.

The two friends were seated on the rooftop, staring at the waning moon. Ever since the episode that started their friendship, they often went to the rooftop when they needed to talk. It was a quiet place where no one would come and hear what they didn't want them to hear.

For all that day, Jill's been acting pretty pensive and sad. Even in battle she didn't show the same energy and disposition like before. Knuckle Joe "felt" that grey aura and wondered what was happening. Not only that, but he also felt some sort of sadness too. He wasn't worried with her doing a huge mistake though. He already knew Jill good enough to know that she really changed her mind and suicide was the last thing that would pass in her thoughts. Like Isaac said, she wasn't likely to have another meltdown.

"Knuckle Joe, I want to ask you something…" she started, "Am I a bitch?"

"Huh?!"

"I mean, do I act like a good friend?"

"Of course you are! What a question."

"No, seriously. I won't be mad at you if say that I've been acting like a bitch with you." she said with a bitter tone.

"No, you're not. What made you think this?"

"It appeared all of a sudden…"

Knuckle Joe laid down on the roof. Both of them remained silent for a moment.

"Jill, one of the reasons why I still hang around with you is because I like you. At first it was just because I was helping you recover from your depression, but you look perfectly fine now. I wouldn't have another reason to hand around with you if it wasn't because I enjoy your friendship. You are funny, smart, carefree…" he said, "A great person to be with."

Jill blushed by those compliments. Why was she blushing? Every time someone complimented her she would agree and feel cocky. Why was with him different?

"I like being with you a lot too." she smiled.

Another awkward silence fell upon them. This time, it was Jill who broke it.

"Say, how do you know if you love someone?" she asked shyly, "How do you know if it's not just dependence?"

She quickly slapped her forehead. Idiot! What type of question was that? Knuckle Joe laughed heartedly.

"Honestly, I don't really know. Love is something complicated to understand. I guess that love is some sort of dependence." he said, "When you love someone, you may have a need of this person staying by your side. The loved one always makes you feel better. His or her presence makes you forget about your problems and comforts you."

"So, you think that dependence is a symptom of love?"

"Sort of…"

Jill's face got even pinker than it was naturally as a grin appeared on her face. She remembered the words of the contradictory voice in her head, but didn't bother to actually pay attention to them. That only meant…

"I… think I… love you." she whispered.

Without giving Knuckle Joe time to reply, Jill leaned over him and gave a quick kiss o his lips, before getting up in a flash. The Dreamland fighter looked at her in total surprise.

"Don't tell me that you didn't see this coming!" she exclaimed playfully.

Knuckle Joe smiled and shook his head. "You crazy girl."

"Maybe…"

He quickly got up and pulled her close to him. Before she could act, he reattributed the kiss she gave him with another one, this one lasting longer than the other. As they finally broke apart, Knuckle Joe sat down once again.

"You and I are equal now." he said, breathless.

Jill sat beside him, her face and body warm. They didn't exchange a word after that, as they didn't know what to say to each other. Of course they would have to talk of what happened eventually, but for now, they were just enjoying each other's company. A chilly wind passed by, but they were feeling so warm that they didn't shiver.

"_Humph! Maybe I was wrong after all…"_ the voice echoed through Jill's head, before vanishing into the depths of her mind along with all her sorrows.

* * *

**Agh! I was so in a hurry that this ending was the best I could write. I wanted to make this a 3 chapter story, but had to reduce it if I wanted to finish in time. Please tell me what you think! Aaaaannnd… yeah… I hope I win. *scratches the back of her head***

**Thank you for reading!**


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